Hawk recovering after suffering burns at R.I. Central Landfill

Sunday

Dec 1, 2013 at 10:14 PM

A red-tailed hawk is being nursed back to health by wildlife rehabilitators after apparently suffering serious burns from methane burners at the Central Landfill. It is apparently the second reported case...

Richard Salit Journal Staff Writer richsalit

A red-tailed hawk is being nursed back to health by wildlife rehabilitators after apparently suffering serious burns from methane burners at the Central Landfill. It is apparently the second reported case of such an incident during the past year.

Officials at the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation said workers at the Johnston landfill noticed the injured raptor and brought it to the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island in North Kingstown.

Now Resource Recovery wants to conduct a review with the goal of preventing further wildlife injuries by the burners used to manage the gases, according to Krystal Noiseaux, who coordinates the agency’s wildlife habitat program.

She said it’s not uncommon for birds to be injured by burners at landfills, power plants and other industries. Acting on a referral from the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association, Resource Recovery contacted Keeping Company with Kestrels, a Massachusetts organization that has researched the best practices for preventing raptor injuries.

Noiseaux said an expert from Keeping Company with Kestrels has volunteered to visit the Johnston facility and make recommendations.

A Resource Recovery employee found the adult hawk on Nov. 19. It could not fly. Another employee who has taken a course with Wildlife Rehabilitators helped capture the hawk and arranged for the organization to pick it up.

“I was able to tell right away what happened, because we had another bird from the Johnston landfill” arrive with similar injuries, said Jennifer Brooks, clinic director for Wildlife Rehabilitators. “All across the country this happens. I went to a conference in March dedicated to methane burners.”

Flames and heat can suddenly erupt from pipes, catching raptors unaware. The birds can be burned simply by flying over the burners, without even landing on them.

The adult male hawk had scorched feathers and burns on its feet and eyelids. Fortunately, she said, the bird was healthy otherwise and able to eat soon after arriving.

“If he wasn’t rescued and brought here, he wouldn’t have made it,” Brooks said. “Without flight capabilities, he wouldn’t have been able to hunt and would have died of starvation or would have been attacked and killed.”

The hawk was sent the next day to convalesce at Born to be Wild Nature Center in Westerly. That’s where the last burned raptor from the landfill was sent, said Brooks. It will take six months for the hawk to fully molt, or grow new feathers.

Landfills are attractive to raptors because of an abundance of rodents to prey upon, Brooks said.

Noiseaux said Resource Recovery has created perches, also called perching “snags,” where raptors can land safely. The agency hopes to get recommendations for creating additional perches or making them more attractive to the raptors than the burner pipes, she said.

Alterations to the burners themselves — such as caps or anti-perching features — would have to be undertaken by Broadrock Renewables, a company that owns the methane collection system and burns the gas for energy.

Brooks was pleased with Resource Recovery’s response.

“It sounds like they are actively trying to find a solution to the problem,” she said.